After the debacle that was Die Another Day, the Bond franchise was in need of a reboot.
Our film begins, completely in black and white, in the office of a British Intelligence section chief, telling Bond he’s not afraid of him, because if M had really wanted him dead, she would have sent a 00 agent, which requires two kills. We, and he, then quickly realize that he would be the second of those two. He asks how his contact died. “Not well,” Daniel Craig’s cold-as-ice Bond replies, as we see him brutally beating the man in a public restroom, breaking bathroom fixtures with the man’s head. Ouch. The first color we see in the film is the blood red as Bond fires towards the camera in traditional form. As Chris Cornell starts singing and we get an opening credits sequence, we realize this is not going to be your mother’s Bond.
After the credits we follow Bond to Uguanda, where he is on the trail of a bomber related to an international terrorist-financier ring– a bomber who is skilled in parkour (which means we get an awesome chase scene into the embassy). Bond kills the guy, for which he is severely reprimanded by M and told to go stick his head in the sand somewhere. We’re also introduced to Le Chifre, who is tracking Bond’s actions and involved in something referred to as Ellipses.
Bond heads to the Bahamas on his forced vacation and eventually finds himself staked in a Texas Hold Em Tournament at the Casino Royale. The tournament is a front for Le Chifre to raise money for his terrorist plots, the details of which we don’t yet know. But we do know if Bond is able to defeat him, Le Chifre will be financially ruined and at the mercy of whomever is in charge of the ring– so they will have to turn him and find out the identity of the masterminds.
Pfhew!! And that’s not even half the movie. After that, there’s romance, an attempted attack on a new super airliner in Miami, car chases, naked Daniel Craig torture, sinking entire buildings in Venice. . . . This movie is epic, and I’m not using that word lightly.
Unlike the previous installments, this expects the audience to have an attention span longer than 30 seconds and to sit with the film for almost 2 and 1/2 hours.
And therein lies my only major problems with this film. It reaches a suitable ending point at 2 hours into the film. Why it felt the need to add on an extra (heartbreaking) chapter, I don’t quite know. In fact, in order to improve both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, I choose to believe that Casino Royale ends with Bond and Vesper on the beach at almost exactly 2 hours in, then Quantum of Solace begins right there. It’s an improvement to both movies by trimming some fat from Casino Royale and adding it into QoS, which very much needed the heart the final act of this film had.
I also have one tiny complaint, which is where, during the poker tournament, Mathis decides to act as our narrator– telling those of us who don’t understand tournament Texas Hold Em poker exactly what’s happening. I hate to say this, but I’d almost more prefer they’d gotten some people to be actual narrators and act like the broadcasters in World Series of Poker, etc.
But there’s so much more to love in this movie. M actually calls Bond a “blunt instrument” and is on the verge of calling him a common thug. It’s great. And Daniel Craig really brings that to this role. If Dalton was the Dark Bond, Craig is the Cold Bond. His blue eyes are just so incredibly piercing. And i love his take on Bond. Upset that his rental car is a typical Ford, he is able to parlay his way into much fancier (and more befitting) transport options. And even when he’s supposed to be laying low, he’s still running operations, the same way Connery’s Bond did. He’s smart, he’s suave, and he uses his talents and charms to get into the good graces. . .and pants of the women around him. And this includes, of course, MI6 accountant Vesper Lynd.
Oh Vesper. You are amazing. And this is one of only two Bond movies that can make me cry, and you are the reason why. And the scene on the train when you and Bond read one another, you prove yourself every bit his equal.
The other thing I love about this film is how tenuous it is. Bond has no idea what he is tracking down, he just knows there’s something at the end end of this thread that he’s untangling.
He’s also quippy, but not punny. Outside of Goldfinger, this has my favorite bits of Bond dialogue of any movie. He tells Vesper that she’s not his type. “Smart?” “No, single.” And when M talks to him about being emotionally detached, “but that’s not your problem, is it Bond?” The way Daniel Craig delivers that single word “no” says almost more about his character than any other bit in the entire film.
And we have my favorite incarnation of the character of Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright. He’s great. And his desperation at being in the same position at Bond but being the lesser card player is the start of what I hoped to be a long and awesome bromance.
So despite being overly long, killing off favorite characters, and some unnecessary exposition by Mathis, this is, dare I say, my favorite Bond movie of all time. Having done this exercise and just watching Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Goldeneye, Living Daylights, etc, all within a few weeks it points out even more how great this movie is.
Four martinis, and a large Mount Gay Rum with Coke like Bond drinks when taking down Demetrius for good measure.
